07/08/2026
We are back from the 2026 US Nationals held in Charlotte, NC. We took a small team of 10 young and relatively inexperienced athletes. Of those athletes, 4 were competing in their first nationals, 5 in only their second nationals and 1 in their third nationals. Also, 2 of them competed for the first time in the ever challenging cadet black division, as first year black belts.
We were blessed to finish with 3 in the finals, 2 🥇& 1 🥈. It still was frustrating to have our number 1 & 2 seed fall just short in quarterfinals along with 2 of their other teammates also in quarterfinals and by either 1 point or touches! Not to mention that one of our first year black belts was winning all his rounds but only to lose the last 2 rounds by penalties! It was unfortunate that we had all these close matches not to go our way, but it just wasn’t meant to be this time. Only God knows why and I leave it to him. Our time will come and these young athletes have the talent to succeed. I have no doubt their day will come, as long as they are consistent, keep challenging themselves and grow on those mats. They will definitely learn from this valuable experience, especially since they are still young and new. We are grateful to our lord and savior for the victories we did have, for keeping everyone safe and healthy and for giving us another year of helping these young athletes. On to the next challenge we go!
